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Warri Refinery resumes operations, as NNPCL targets exporting petroleum products

THE Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has announced the commencement of operations at the 125,000-barrel-per-day Warri Refining & Petrochemicals Company in Delta State. 

This development followed the recent restart of operations at the 60,000-barrel-per-day Port Harcourt Refinery.

Mele Kyari, the group chief executive officer of the NNPCL disclosed this during a facility tour on Monday, December 30.

He was accompanied by key stakeholders, including the chief executive officer of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, Farouk Ahmed.

The Warri Refining & Petrochemicals Company, situated in Ekpan, Uwvie, and Ubeji, also produces petrochemicals, with an annual output of 13,000 metric tonnes of polypropylene and 18,000 metric tonnes of carbon black. 

Speaking during the tour, Kyari explained that the inspection aimed to provide transparency on the progress made at the refinery.

He noted that while repairs on the facility were not fully complete, production had already commenced.

He said, “We are taking you through our plant. This plant is running. Although it is not 100 per cent complete, we are still in the process. Many people think these things are not real. They think real things are not possible in this country. We want you to see that this is real.

“I must congratulate our team for their determination and extreme belief that this company can restart this plant.

“This has brought the result we are seeing in collaboration with our contractors. We have proved that it is possible to restart a plant that you deliberately shut down. We have proved this.”

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He highlighted that the Warri refinery’s first phase, known as Area 1, is operational, producing high-quality products such as diesel, kerosene, and naphtha.

“This plant has three stages. We have started stage one which is called Area 1, able to produce AGO (diesel), Kerosene, naphtha and others. These are brands of high-quality products required in the country. We will also be able to export them. This country will make money to meet the promises of Mr president that this country will be an exporter of petroleum products.

“I must put on record the development was as a result of the charge by Mr President that we must get all three refineries to work. It is already happening. We have successfully started the Port Harcourt 65, 000 barrels per day refinery. We have also started the area 1 of the Warri refinery. The other plants that will produce PMS will also come alive,” he added.

In November 30, The ICIR reported that the NNPCL management faced a deluge of questions arising from the operations of the newly rehabilitated Port Harcourt Refinery Company (PHRC).



Questions dogging the refinery’s operation include the veracity of petroleum products loading at the refinery as claimed by the NNPCL when it conducted stakeholders around the facility when the refinery resumed operations on Tuesday, November 26.

The NNPCL had announced the resumption of business at the PHRC which raised hope for Nigeria’s meeting up with local petroleum needs.




     

     

    However, the operational capacity of the refinery came under intense scrutiny hours after its reopening.

    The scrutiny followed controversies that petroleum products loaded from the facilities were not newly refined but products stored in the storage tank of the facility in the last three years.

    For instance, in a monitored interview at Arise Television, the secretary of the Alesa Community stakeholders, Timothy Mgbere, who appeared as a guest alleged that the 60,000 barrels per day had yet to become fully operational, contrary to the position of the NNPCL.

    Mgbere also alleged that the refinery only loaded six trucks of petroleum products on the day of its reopening despite the NNPCL stating that 200 trucks would be picked up from the refinery daily.

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    Usman Mustapha is a solution journalist with International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: umustapha@icirnigeria.com. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M

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